need input: adopting a pre-fabricated/standard template as our companytemplates

Hi, everyone,

For several years, we've struggled with development & maintenance of
our Word templates. We started out having designed/polished
templates that someone created with Office 95 or something earlier.
However, over time, we realized that the design element interfered
too much with functionality (this was particularly problematic given
the varying levels of Word expertise among our users). Each time we
upgraded Word, we upgraded the templates and we suspect that this
made them more prone to becoming corrupt.

Now, we're at a point where we're ready to redesign our templates;
we want input about an idea that we have.

We want to use a standard template (one that Word provides or that
some other service might provide/sell) and then augment that by
adding our cover, title, and "back end" pages.

We want such a base template to have these main features:

1. The template should produce technical reports (not marketing
pieces/brochures). So, it must have a built-in Table of Contents,
List of Figures, and List of Tables.

2. The template should be simple and easy to use. We are willing to
sacrifice form for functionality.

3. The template must include a range of styles (e.g., styles for two
levels of numbered and bulleted lists, numbered body headings,
numbered appendix headings, etc.).

4. The template cannot use lots of tables or macros, or advanced
features that require input from / customization by the user.

We want the base template to be as inclusive as possible. (We don't
want to have to get an update to a template and then make numerous
changes to it to make it right. We don't want to have to customize
the template--we just want to add in our front and back matter.)

Our questions:

.. From what we can see, none of the Microsoft-provided report-based
templates include ToCs, LoFs, or LoTs. Am I wrong about this?

.. Are there template-subscription services that provide what we're
looking for? (They'd provide a base template and updates to it
whenever updates are necessary.)

.. Have you taken this approach or a similar one to distributing and
managing your company's templates?

.. Do you have advice for us as we begin such a project? Keep in mind
that we prefer to not have to start from scratch in creating this
new template--we'd LOVE to point our users to one of the MS standard
templates and then just add the missing components (cover, title,
etc) for them. We really don't want to write a new template from
scratch--we've tried that in the past and we know that it wasn't the
smartest way to proceed, so we don't want to go that same route if
possible.

Thank you for any help/feedback.

Unless they have improved a lot, I would not use any of the MS-supplied
templates (most of which are created by third parties) for this purpose.
What you need is a template created specifically for your organization and
tailored to your specific needs. If you don't feel able to create such a
template yourself, you should hire a Word professional who specializes in
this service.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Barbara White" wrote in message
...
Hi, everyone,

For several years, we've struggled with development & maintenance of
our Word templates. We started out having designed/polished
templates that someone created with Office 95 or something earlier.
However, over time, we realized that the design element interfered
too much with functionality (this was particularly problematic given
the varying levels of Word expertise among our users). Each time we
upgraded Word, we upgraded the templates and we suspect that this
made them more prone to becoming corrupt.

Now, we're at a point where we're ready to redesign our templates;
we want input about an idea that we have.

We want to use a standard template (one that Word provides or that
some other service might provide/sell) and then augment that by
adding our cover, title, and "back end" pages.

We want such a base template to have these main features:

1. The template should produce technical reports (not marketing
pieces/brochures). So, it must have a built-in Table of Contents,
List of Figures, and List of Tables.

2. The template should be simple and easy to use. We are willing to
sacrifice form for functionality.

3. The template must include a range of styles (e.g., styles for two
levels of numbered and bulleted lists, numbered body headings,
numbered appendix headings, etc.).

4. The template cannot use lots of tables or macros, or advanced
features that require input from / customization by the user.

We want the base template to be as inclusive as possible. (We don't
want to have to get an update to a template and then make numerous
changes to it to make it right. We don't want to have to customize
the template--we just want to add in our front and back matter.)

Our questions:

. From what we can see, none of the Microsoft-provided report-based
templates include ToCs, LoFs, or LoTs. Am I wrong about this?

. Are there template-subscription services that provide what we're
looking for? (They'd provide a base template and updates to it
whenever updates are necessary.)

. Have you taken this approach or a similar one to distributing and
managing your company's templates?

. Do you have advice for us as we begin such a project? Keep in mind
that we prefer to not have to start from scratch in creating this
new template--we'd LOVE to point our users to one of the MS standard
templates and then just add the missing components (cover, title,
etc) for them. We really don't want to write a new template from
scratch--we've tried that in the past and we know that it wasn't the
smartest way to proceed, so we don't want to go that same route if
possible.

Thank you for any help/feedback.